Game of Thrones Season 4 Spoilers: What Happens to Arya Stark?

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HBO

Game of ThronesSeason 4 is under a month away, but for devoted fans of the series, April 6 still feels like years to wait. Fortunately, for those of you that love spoilers, there's a way to know what's coming up. Since GoT is based on the book series A Song of Ice and Fire, we can make some good guesses about how the story will play out next season, at least in broad strokes. Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) is one of the most popular characters on the show, so here are our predictions about what's coming up for her based on the latter half of A Storm of Swords and the previews we've seen.

Warning: This article contains MAJOR spoilers from the A Song of Ice and Fire book series. Click away now if you don't want to know!

Disclaimer: Of course, the show may cut plot elements or even completely alter Arya's story. These are spoilers based on the books only.

Arya Sticks With The Hound. After the death of her mother and brother, Arya doesn’t really know where she wants to go. The Hound’s next great idea is to bring her to the Vale to her aunt and noted psychopath, Lysa Arryn, but the road there proves to be too perilous, so the two of them just kind of wander around and start to bond. Aww.

Arya Is Reunited With Needle. Remember Arya’s sword, Needle? It was stolen from her by a Lannister soldier, Polliver, who used it to kill Arya’s friend Lommy. While she and The Hound are strolling around, they stop into an inn and run into some Lannister men, including Polliver. Arya recognizes him and sees her sword on his hip. The soldiers eventually start a fight with The Hound, because they’re idiots, and he proceeds to kill them with help from Arya. She retrieves Needle from Polliver’s corpse and goes on her merry way. We've gotten glimpses of Arya with what looks like needle in the promos, so we think it's safe to say this comes to pass.

Arya Leaves The Hound to Die. The Hound suffers a grievous wound during his fight in the inn, and during their journey he realizes that he can’t go any further. He stops to rest by a tree, and asks Arya to kill him to put him out of his misery. She refuses, mainly because she’s grown somewhat attached to him. He then tries to goad her into it by reminding her of all the terrible things that he’s done, like killing her friend Mycha, and after that she hates him again, but she decides she’d rather let him suffer than grant him a quick death. She leaves him by the tree, and it’s unclear if he lives or dies.

Arya Catches a Boat. Arya makes her way down to the docks on the Narrow Sea and asks to board a boat to take her to the Wall to see Jon Snow, whom she thinks is her only living family member (besides Sansa, who’s with the Lannisters.) The captain of the boat asks her for payment to get on the ship, but Arya doesn’t have nearly enough money, so he refuses her. He then states that he’s from the free city of Braavos, and she remembers the coin Jaqen H’ghar gave her. If you recall, Jaqen told her to present the coin to any man from Braavos and say the words, “Valar Morgulis.” She does so, and it grants her passage on the ship. But they’re not headed to the Wall... They’re going to Braavos.

We suspect that’s where Arya’s storyline ends in Season 4, while we expect her adventures in Braavos to take place in Season 5. That said, she doesn’t have a whole lot of scenes after the Red Wedding in A Storm of Swords, so we wouldn’t be shocked to see the show invent more screen time for her and The Hound, because really, who doesn’t love the two of them together? It's also possible that the writers will push some of her journey forward, incorporating her arrival in Braavos in Season 4 after all. We do catch sight of the Titan of Braavos, a giant statue that welcomes people to the city, in the latest trailer...

Are you looking forward to more of Arya and The Hound? Sound off in the comments below!

Catch the Game of Thrones Season 4 premiere on April 6, 2014 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO.